Orb of Changes
by OrangeKisses
Summary: Koenma's vault has been raided and a precious artifact of power stolen. If it falls into the wrong hands, it means certain doom for the three worlds. Enter the unlucky soul who found it and the crazy detectives and her. Kur/OC :Post Series:
1. Skipping School

This is a Yu Yu Hakusho fanfiction! Welcome, welcome! Um, here I'll just make a few pointers. Yes, I am making OC characters for this story, but I'm unsure of the romantic pairings just yet. It's got a loose plot and I'll probably outline it at some point, but for now I'm just writing as my muse tells me to. I own every episode and all but two of the Yu Yu Hakusho manga, so I'm very well hearsed in the YYH world.

However, I'll probably make mistakes here and there, just like anyone else. If you see a OOC moment with one of the canon characters, just let me know, okay?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any characters that belong to the anime or manga. They belong to Yoshihiro Togashi, not me. Any OC's, or original characters, belong to /me/. Plot belongs to /me, as does the Orb of Changes, since I made it up. :D So!! Now that that's out of the way, we can focus on other things.

Quick run down of the characters that I've made.

**Aiko Wakahisa**: _Ai means love, Ko means child. Love child. Waka means young and Hisa means ancient. _(She is seventeen years old and attends Sarasaki High School.)

**Kaito Wakahisa**: _Kai means ocean and 'to' means soar/fly._ (He is thirteen and attends Sarasaki Junior High School.)

**Megumi Wakahisa:** _Megumi means blessed._ (She is forty years old and works in a café near their small apartment.)

**Daichi Wakahisa:**_ Daichi means earth._ (Father of Aiko and Kaito, husband to Megumi. He works at a computer chip company and often travels long distance for business dealings. He is forty-four years old, and will be scarce in this story.)

For those of you familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho, you know the other canon characters pretty well. If you've somehow stumbled upon this story and don't know Yu Yu Hakusho, I suggest Wikipedia. They explain it very well.

This is the longest Author's Note that I'll write unless something drastic happens, like I go on Haitus because of family or school related issues.

That takes care of everything, so please, enjoy the story.

* * *

A beeping alarm clock went unnoticed as it struck six on a clear Monday morning. The bed next to the alarm clock's stand was empty and made up with mint green sheets resting on top of it. A few stuffed animals were strewn across the surface, most of them old and worn looking as if they had suffered through many years of being held and carried around.

The room was dark in the early morning dawn as the dark sky slowly lightened outside of the bedroom window. The room itself was small, only holding a bed, desk, and dresser with a small chair in the corner. Shelves of books and more worn stuffed animals took up one side while piles of CDs were stacked neatly in between different books at random intervals. It didn't look organized, but the owner of the room knew exactly where everything was.

The radio clicked off it's annoying buzzer sound, switching to the radio. "Good morning Tokyo! Welcome to the early six o'clock music jam and traffic reports! It's your favorite host, DJ Chi! I'll be jamming to the most popular songs with you until eight while giving you helpful road hints that'll make you on time for work or school! Here's the newest song on the air waves, Jump!" A steady beat came on over the small speakers as a short drum solo filled the air.

However, the morning music went unnoticed to the owner of the room who wasn't even there at all. The door to the bedroom itself was open and across the hallway steam crept out from under the door opposite of it. A hot shower was being taken and a faint scent of apple filled the air. Whoever lived in the small upstairs room was a very early riser.

Sleek black hair cropped just two inches below the chin was filled with suds as nimble fingers lathered the apple shampoo into the scalp. A quick rinse and the hot water was shut off and the figure groped for a towel through the curtain, finding one to wrap around herself. A hand wiped the fog off of the mirror and a face was seen staring back through wet lashes in a heart shaped face. Aiko was her name and she shook her head rapidly like a wet dog, sending a spray of water droplets flying around the cubicle like bathroom. The apartment like home was just large enough to house the family of four and a loud thump downstairs alerted her that the rest of her family was waking up. Screaming along with pots hitting the floor made Aiko roll her eyes at her reflection, the shrill voice carrying up the stair cases.

"Who put the pot in the cupboard!? Stupid piece of metal!"

Aiko counted down on her fingers quietly, her other hand tapping the fingers as she counted. "Three… two… one…"

The clattering of pots was heard again in a more frantic search and Aiko continued to dry herself off, brushing her short bob of black hair once it was towel dried. "Aiko!! Aiko! Get yourself down here, I can't find my cigarettes!"

Aiko sighed softly through parted lips and opened the door to the bathroom. Gooseflesh erupted on her exposed skin when the frigid air of the hallway hit her steamy slice of heaven and she shook despite herself. "Your cigarettes are on the counter next to the coffee maker mother!"

Silence reigned for a moment before a calmer "thank you" was shouted from downstairs. Shaking her head, Aiko quickly finished getting ready by going back into her room to get dressed for school. After ten minutes of getting dressed and packing her books into her briefcase, Aiko's footfalls could be heard on the narrow stair case as she descended downstairs in the apartment her family lived in.

A woman of forty stood at the counter cooking eggs with a cigarette between her lips, puffing quietly on the end. Aiko set her school bag down at the front door before venturing into the tiny kitchen in her blue Sarasaki uniform. The kitchen itself was a sterile white color with wooden floors and a kitchen bar to eat at with wooden stools. The furniture in the apartment was sparse, as were the rooms. Two small bedrooms, a master bedroom, and one bath was the upstairs. Downstairs there was the entry hallway and living room and then the tiny kitchen.

Aiko briefly looked at her mother as she poked her nose into the fridge, frowning with distaste at the lack of food. She'd have to go shopping again, her mother was helpless when it came to cooking anything other than eggs and toast. Luckily she never had to buy very much. Her father was rarely home from his long distance job, while her younger brother ate a lot at the school cafeteria and very little at home. He woke up late in the mornings and usually grabbed food on the way to school from the café their mother worked at. The wonders of free food!! Thankfully her mother was so well liked that they never charged her younger brother for the food he nabbed. Yes, both Megumi her mother and Kaito her brother were _very_ well liked.

"Good morning mother." Aiko gave her mother a quick kiss on the cheek as she put a piece of bread into the toaster, writing herself a note to shop for food later. Aiko's mother smiled a bit at the greeting, the cigarette bobbing up and down as she greeted her back.

Her mother's sleek black hair was tied into a thick pony tail at the base of her neck where it reached in between her shoulder blades. She was tall and lean while Aiko was a bit shorter then her, but otherwise they were the spitting image of the other. The two women looked at each other with cobalt colored eyes and smiled twin smiles. Her mother worked out a lot after she got off from the café, making her mother look more like an older sister instead of a forty year old mom of two.

The smoke from Megumi's cigarettes filled the small kitchen but the smoke detector had been long since out of work in their household. What with her mother being a chain smoker and all, it was pointless to have one when she smoked in the kitchen all the time. It would just beep forever because of all the smoke that hung out in the house.

"I'm going to head on to school." Buttering her piece of toast quickly, Aiko stuck it into her mouth while sliding brown loafers onto her feet, forgoing the knee length socks for shorter ankle socks.

Her mother waved lightly as she left. "Head straight to the hospital to see grandma when you leave school!"

"I will!" With that, one Aiko Wakahisa shut the door to her family's small abode, not realizing what repercussions that day was about to unleash on her.

* * *

"Ouch! Keiko stop pulling, that _hurts_!!" A pretty brunette rolled her eyes as she gripped her boyfriend's ear even harder, pulling him down the lane towards Sarasaki high school. "Ouch! Have some mercy on me Keiko, I've been fighting demons _all_ weekend with my grandmother from hell!! Can't I skip school, just for today?"

"No Yusuke, you can't. You've barely managed to even get through the beginning years of high school, and even then you had people help out your paper work!" She shot him a nasty look at his cheesy grin. "And furthermore, you need to study! If you fail senior year then it's all over for you!"

"Geez, you sound like grandma and training Keiko! Don't be such a hag, let's go hang out or something! You, me, and more of you, why we could—"

"Yusuke you pervert!" A resounding _slap_ was heard and Yusuke stumbled backwards, holding his throbbing face as his furious girlfriend turned red in the face. "I can't _believe_ you'd even _ask_ that!! Jerk!"

Yusuke rubbed at his cheek and smiled, much to his girlfriend's annoyance. "Hey, what can I say, after last night, I just want mor—" This time a briefcase met his head and he was knocked back flat on his back side, a goose egg forming on the side of his head. Some people in the streets stopped to stare while others hurried on, already late for work. "Geez Keiko! I was just kidding! You didn't have to hit me so hard!!"

Keiko's fist clenched and unclenched, a vein visibly throbbing on her temple. "Keep talking Yusuke, you're just digging a deeper grave for yourself! And I've _never_ even gone past kissing you, so don't get any bright ideas!!"

Yusuke sighed heavily and pushed himself to his feet as Keiko stormed off towards the high school's gates, fuming to herself.

"Geez Urameshi, how stupid can you be?" A new and gravelly voice questioned him from behind, one that Yusuke recognized immediately.

Yusuke calmly gave the bird over his shoulder to a familiar carrot-top man. Said carrot-top fumed at the lack of response and grabbed the back of Yusuke's green uniform, holding him up off the ground.

"Don't you walk away from me Urameshi! I'll stomp your –ss into the pavement!"

Yusuke smirked, his fingers gripping the man's collar. "Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try Kuwabara. The last time you did that I was the one stomping and _you_ were screaming uncle."

The man who was identified as Kuwabara growled before it turned into a grin and Yusuke was set back on the ground. The two delinquents grinned at each other before Kuwabara slapped Yusuke on the back. "Great to see you man! So, what did Keiko do to you that made you actually show for class?"

Yusuke grimaced at the memory of her literally beating him up this morning to get him up and dressed. "You don't wanna know man, you don't wanna know."

The two resumed walking, seeing Keiko waiting at the gates to Sarasaki further ahead. "So man, we have any new missions? You've been away to Genki's for like, two weeks now. Any more moves you learned?" He nudged his friend while grinning, trying to pry information out of him.

Yusuke elbowed Kuwabara back harder and soon the two were grinding each other's elbows into the other's rib cages. "No, it's been quiet on the spirit side. I guess the demons are tired of trying to rule the world."

Kuwabara looked doubtful, pushing Yusuke away from him lightly as they entered the grounds to the high school. "It's too weird man. Usually we'd be stomping some alley way dirt bags or at least scouting things out, but it's just been… quiet. Ever since you set up that tournament every two years in Makai, there's been less trouble. It's too weird for demons to be _this_ quiet. Even shrimpy isn't around as much!"

Yusuke just shrugged, lowering his voice as they entered the hallways. "I don't know man. Just count it as a blessing, because so help me if you just jinxed us for a hard mission, I'll beat your –ss so hard into the pavement it'll make your ancestors cringe!"

Kuwabara puffed up a little at the threat, tripping Yusuke as they entered the doorway to the classroom. "You just watch helmet head!! I'll fight off whatever enemy comes our way and then I'll be a hero! Then Yukina will come back, we'll get married, and live happily ever after!"

Yusuke sat in the window sill and snorted, kicking Kuwabara's chair out from under him before he could sit down. "Yeah right lover boy, as if she'd go for you." His grin slowly fell as he looked out the window. "I just hope we get a break for awhile…"

* * *

If it was one thing Koenma hated, it was complications. All day there had been nothing but complications. Souls had gone missing from ferry girls, ferry girls were missing their oars or communicators, a certain blue haired ferry girl was grating on his last nerve with her shrill screaming, and it was all because life hated him.

Sighing softly, Koenma leaned back in his large chair, all of his paperwork completed for once. It was unbelievable and unheard of, but he'd worked so hard today that he would have a free night ahead of him if it weren't for one thing nagging on his mind.

Someone had broken into the vaults last night in the Rekai Palace, the strongest strong hold in all of Spirit World! Things were scattered everywhere and everything was shattered and misplaced. The ogres were taking inventory on what was there and what wasn't, but he just hoped that no serious artifacts had been taken. He had a number of pendants that would be worth millions on the black market and deadly in the wrong hands. Taking out a sheet of paper he began listing every rare artifact in the one vault that had been sacked. "Pendant of Memory… Water of Knowledge… Ring of Shadows… Spirit Orbs…"

His double doors bursting open had him looking up at George the blue ogre that had walked in and he straightened. "Well Ogre, have you found anything?"

The ogre nodded, handing Koenma a piece of paper. "Yes sir, we have. Everything is accounted for…"

Koenma let out a sigh of relief. "That's good, but who—"

"Except for one thing."

Koenma slowly looked at George before looking down at the paper he had been given. His eyes widened for a moment then narrowed as he quickly skimmed the paper. "Well? Find it! Find the artifact now!"

"But sir—"

"Ogre." The sharp word had George straightening as Koenma hopped up onto his desk, pacing the clear top of it. "Do you have _any_ idea what this artifact listed can do?"

George looked unsure for a moment and shook his head. "No sir, I don't. What exactly _is_ the artifact that's missing?"

"It's called the Orb of Changes, ogre, and it's _very_ powerful. It hangs on a silver necklace made of dragon scales which won't come off the user until the change is complete."

Ogre frowned even more. "What change is that sir?"

Koenma sighed as he put the paper away into a shredder, pushing the bits into the trash can. "This is strictly top secret information… although since everyone knows what the orb is and that it's here, I might as well tell you. The Orb of Changes is just that, it changes the user that wears it. If a demon wears the orb, the orb will scorch it's soul and mutate it into a horrible creature with monstrous strength. It passed from hand to hand, causing thousand year old wars and such. See, the Orb keeps the user alive, feeding off it's energy like a parasite. No energy, no power, so it keeps the user alive. It heals stab wounds, reattaches your lost limbs, etcetera. It doesn't stop death, but it prolongs your life be thousands of years. If it fell into the wrong hands…" Koenma shuddered. "It would be chaos. It's one of the strongest artifacts I own Ogre, and it was in that vault for a reason!"

George's knees shook and he gulped a little bit as images of mass murder flitted through his head. "But sir, why don't we just entrust it to a human then? Humans don't have powers unless their spirit awareness is through the roof! Like Kuwabara sir, or Yusuke! Well, formerly Yusuke, but still sir!"

Koenma shook his head. "It's fatal if a human tries to wield it. The Orb of Changes sinks into the user's body, becoming one with it. If it fused with a human, it would try to change the human into a demon, something that only twenty percent could survive, at best. It gives them longer life span, powers to protect themselves, and boosts their senses. They become a lower level demon, but with enough hard work they could work their way up the ranks. There is a way to extract it, but… It's extremely dangerous. And fatal. Once the orb fuses with a host, you can't remove it unless you kill the person harboring it. That's why no one must use it Ogre, do you understand?" Koenma sighed, rubbing at the head ache that had formed behind his eyes.

"Get me Yusuke on the line. Tell him to gather Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara at a safe location. There's the east side docks, tell them to meet me there tomorrow afternoon after school." He closed his brown eyes then opened them after a moment, seriousness making them hard and cool. "We're going on a treasure hunt."

* * *

Well! There it is! Please enjoy. Reviews are always welcome, they fuel my passion for writing, but I won't hold this story hostage for reviews. ;P I hate it when people do that, so I won't. This story is purely for my entertainment and my muse. If you think it's awful, that's fine, but I don't want people sending me reviews saying "Oh my gosh, not another OC character!!"

Yeah, it's an OC pairing that I'm going to come up with, _eventually_. So, don't panic, and keep your hard hats on.

Best wishes, love, and blessings be on you from God!

OK


	2. Breaking Windows

Thank you my reviewers! ;D I feel so special!

You know, watching Yu Yu Hakusho all the time is great inspiration. It's like I can hear their voices! Lawl.

Okay, welcome people to chapter two!

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The lunch bell rang and Yusuke couldn't have been any more relieved. As people pushed their desks together to eat, Yusuke let out a loud sigh and threw his books to the floor. "Man, I hate this. I am _so_ not coming to school tomorrow." He ducked his head quickly before Keiko could decide to hit him. When she didn't even make a move to hit him he opened one eye cautiously, seeing Keiko wasn't even looking at him. She was staring at a girl across the room who was sitting by herself near the window. Yusuke blinked, looking between the two girls. Keiko? Staring off into space? That didn't make sense. Deciding to test how good she was listening, he leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk with a cocky grin. "Hey, Keiko, I've got some dirty mags in my bag, you wanna see?"

Again, no response. Kuwabara's head tilted to the side as he looked at his best friend sitting next to him. Kuwabara looked towards the girl Keiko was staring at, checking his senses. Her spirit energy was fine on his radar. A little higher then a normal human, but that could be stress levels affecting her; they had finals next semester and a test tomorrow. Seeing no reason for Keiko to be staring at the girl, he nudged Yusuke. "What's with her?" Hearing Kuwabara's voice, Keiko shook her head and looked back towards Yusuke and Kuwabara before sitting down in her desk in their small square of desks. "Hey, you okay? You look spaced out there Keiko." Yusuke glanced at Kuwabara when he talked, then back at Keiko.

Keiko waved a hand at their concerned looks. "Oh nothing! It's nothing; I was just… observing someone."

Yusuke looked past her and at the black haired girl near the window. "Well, let's invite her over here. She's kinda cute you know. Hey! Short hair girl, get your –ss over here!" Yusuke stood up and waved while Keiko ducked her head down, hitting him hard in the arm.

Keiko was going to kill her boyfriend.

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Aiko sat at the front of the classroom, ignoring the people as they pulled their desks together. She wasn't much of a social butterfly seeing as she and her family moved a lot with her father's job. She had lived on all four of Japan's main islands, once on the very southern group of isles below Kyushu in Okinawa, and even in Hong Kong one year. She had been homeschooled that year. It made for an impressive track record with high schools, but a daunting barrier to make friends. Everyone at these schools had grown up together, played together as kids, and sometimes it went back for generations. They weren't about to welcome a new kid into their cliques. Her family had finally settled here in Tokyo and if she was lucky, she'd graduate this year from this school. Sighing heavily, Aiko unpacked her lunch and dipped a tuna roll into some soy sauce before popping it into her mouth. Her mood immediately lifted at the salty taste and she stared out the window, letting her mind wander. It wasn't so bad, she mused. She wasn't into sex, drugs, gangs, or alcohol, so that had to be a plus, right?

Her class mates were loud and rowdy behind her, filling the class room with a familiar din. When an unfamiliar voice called out for the 'bobbed haired girl', she turned around/ Seeing as she was the girl with the shortest hair in the class room, Aiko assumed the rowdy green clad man was talking about her. Pointing her chopstick at herself she saw a brunette girl hit the boy and he winced, before shooting her a cheesy grin.

"Yeah, you! Bobbed hair girl, com'here!"

Aiko reluctantly set her chopsticks down and stood, smoothing her skirt out as she crossed the class room to their corner on the other side of the room. She recognized the brunette as their class president, Keiko Yukimora. It must be important business if she was sitting over here with the class clowns. "Yes, can I help you?"

Yusuke leaned over and pulled a chair over so she had somewhere to sit. "Yeah, you can help me by sitting down and talking to us. What gives, you just sit by yourself over in the corner. You allergic to people or something-eh!" Keiko's foot ground into his instep and he jerked back in his chair to get away from Keiko.

"Please excuse my boyfriend Yusuke, he's a dimwit." Yusuke glared and was about to flip the bird before Keiko gave him a dark look.

Aiko watched with amusement as the two lovers quarreled together and looked towards Kuwabara who was calmly eating his food. Retrieving her own food, Aiko sat back down and ate her own bento boxed lunch, watching the two go at it. After ten minutes of a screaming and slapping match, Yusuke gave in and sat down, huffing. He gave Aiko's lunch a very considering look and whistled innocently, his fingers tiptoeing for a roll. She ate them like no one's business; surely she wouldn't notice that delectable eel roll on the corner missing? It looked so lonely, just begging to be eaten! A pair of chopsticks quickly gripped his fingers when they were about to touch the prized roll. "Ye-OUCH! What the hell?!"

Aiko released his fingers from her chopsticks, picking up the sushi roll and handing it to him. "If you wanted food, all you had to do was ask Urameshi-san."

Yusuke popped the sushi into his mouth, nursing his sore finger. "How'd you know my name?"

Aiko motioned to his green jumpsuit. "You stick out like a sore thumb Urameshi-san. You have a… reputation."

Yusuke put his pinky in his ear and moved it around with nonchalance, making Aiko shake her head and finish eating. "Yeah, whatever. Just call me Yusuke, everyone else does. Oh yeah, and this red and blue Christmas ornament behind me is Kuwabara. And you know Keiko."

Kuwabara resisted the urge to hit his friend in the head, instead giving Aiko a charming look. "Pleased to meet you Miss… uh…" He ducked his head to a conspirator whisper and Aiko did the same so she could hear him. "Say what is your name anyhow?"

"Wakahisa, Aiko, at your service." Aiko packed up her lunch and threw it away neatly by tossing it into the nearby garbage can over Yusuke's head. She felt too lazy to actually get up when it was open like that and less then two feet away, so why not shoot for it?

Yusuke gave off a lecherous grin and leaned forward towards Aiko. "_Any_ service?"

Aiko and Keiko gave him sharp looks and he quickly scooted behind Kuwabara. "Maybe not, eh heh heh…"

Aiko glanced to Keiko, shaking her head. "Thank you for the company Keiko-san." The bell rang and desks scraped along the floor as they were pushed back into their normal positions. Keiko smiled easily at Aiko.

"It's not a problem. I'm just sorry that my boyfriend is such a lecher. Why don't you sit with us from now on? You always sit by yourself; you have to be bored, right?" Keiko smiled even more as Aiko's smile was returned.

"Yeah, Aiko should sit with us! Next time we'll keep Urameshi on a leash and pack him a lunch. I mean, he's just an over sized wimp. Compared to Hiei and Kur—" This time Yusuke ground his foot into Kuwabara's instep. The tall teenager jumped up howling, holding his foot. Keiko put her head in her hands as Yusuke preceded to beat Kuwabara senseless. The class watched for a moment before turning towards the front, the fighting between the two nothing out of the ordinary whenever Yusuke bothered to show up for class. "Ouch! Urameshi cut it out, what'd I do!? All I said was you were a shrimp compared to Hiei and Ku—"

A fist to his face had him hitting the back wall as Yusuke tried shutting him up. "You idiot! Would you shut up?!"

Kuwabara glared and got up, full out tackling Yusuke. People screamed and got up as the two started wailing on each other. Aiko jumped out of her seat as it became a casualty, pulling Keiko out of the way of a flailing foot. "Hey! Cut it out you two, it's not necessary—" She winced a little at a particularly vicious hit. "—to beat the snot out of each other!!" Aiko let out a gasp as Kuwabara's nose started to gush blood and Yusuke earned a split lip. They rolled and Aiko pushed Keiko back before tripping herself over a fallen chair. She hit the floor and the boys rolled over her, exchanging punches above her. Panic seized her for a moment and Aiko acted out of instinct for self preservation. "Get _off_ of me!!" Kuwabara and Yusuke looked up in time to see her hands flying. Her heel took Yusuke's nose and there was an awkward crunch. Her other hand back handed Kuwabara at a weird angle, doing the second boy less damage then Yusuke.

Blood spurted from Yusuke's nose onto Aiko's uniform and face making her cobalt colored eyes widen. Had she done _all_ that? Wow, the heel to nose trick really did work! She'd have to tell her mother… assuming she wasn't grounded for life for hitting someone.

"That is _enough_! Urameshi, Kuwabara, and Wakahisa, afterschool detention! Now, get up off the floor and see the nurse. Don't come back until this period is over, do you understand?!" Aiko tilted her head backwards from her position on the floor to see their tall and imposing teacher. His face was twisted into a permanent scowl these days, and it was twisted even more at this point. He looked like he was about to explode from anger! Yusuke helped Aiko up carefully, holding his bleeding nose and mouth while Kuwabara gave her an apologetic look through his black eye. Oh her mother was going to _love_ this.

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The final bell for school rang loudly and as people rushed out the door, a very sullen Aiko sat in the back of the class room, gathering her things. Detention. What a perfectly _lovely_ word. Keiko had reprimanded Yusuke and Kuwabara so harshly once class had started that she decided she would give the two a break and not say anything to them about it. After all, it wasn't their fault… well, not entirely anyways.

"Come on Bobby, let's get going."

Aiko's head jerked up at the new voice, her straight hair swinging with the sudden movement to see Yusuke and Kuwabara standing at her desk and the class room empty. She gathered her briefcase and stood, flanked by either senior on her sides as they walked down the school's long and semi-crowded hallways.

"Why are you calling me Bobby, Yusuke-san?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes, lightly nudging the girl with his elbow. She briefly bumped into Kuwabara but kept walking, shooting him an annoyed look. "Quit the san part, it gets annoying. Anyways, your hair is in a bob cut, right? So why not call you Bobby? Besides, calling you Aiko is awkward. It's like screaming 'Hey look at her, her name is love child!!' Yeah, pretty awkward. So, from now on, your name is Bobby."

Aiko rolled her eyes and smiled. Despite the fact she had detention, Aiko was in a pretty good mood. She would get to see her grandmother in the hospital, and her grandmother always cheered her up. She had been fine up until her asthma started to bother her and she caught a cold. The two were a deadly combination, but because her grandmother was a healthy soul, she was pulling through just fine… At least she hoped she would.

Aiko briefly thought of the white inhaler in her briefcase and her fingers tightened on the handle for a moment. No one except her mother and brother knew she had asthma, and she intended on keeping it that way. She hadn't had an attack in two years, thankfully, but she kept the little plastic container as a precaution. It was a weakness that she didn't like sharing with the world.

"So, I beat you up pretty good Urameshi didn't I?" Kuwabara chuckled and Yusuke rolled his eyes, pushing him sideways with his hand. Kuwabara stumbled lightly before pushing Yusuke back. Thankfully they had reached the room already where detention was held on the first floor of the school before they could become even more rowdy. Shutting the sliding door behind the three, their detention teacher walked in. His features reminded one of a rat, not unlike Yusuke's junior high teacher that tried failing Kuwabara when they were fourteen. He was scrawny and shrewd as he looked at the three.

"Have a seat you delinquents and don't make much noise. I'll be back." As he stood up there was a buzzing sound and he looked at the phone that had been connected to the walls next to the doors. A buzz was usually a call from the front office. He looked at the white phone with distaste, seeing the light flashing next to it that told him it was ringing. Picking up the white receiver, the teacher spoke quietly into it, shooting the three evil glances. He _hated_ detention duty. He went quiet and listened to the secretary on the other end. Oh, Wakahisa's grandmother was sick? Oh dear, she was in ICU? Oh well yes that was awful. Could she leave detention early? Oh he'd send her on her way as soon as possible. Disgruntled that a student was getting away, he frowned at Aiko before the cogs in his mind started to turn. After a moment he smiled, a bit gleeful with himself and hung up, giving the receiver a good pat as if it had done him a great service.

He gave Aiko a lewd smile as he walked to the door, unlocking it. "Well Miss Wakahisa, I have some terrible news for you. Because you have forced yourself into detention with these street rats, I'm forced to miss my free hours after school. The office has informed me that you were supposed to see your grandmother this after noon." '_Cue the sinking feeling_', Aiko thought, standing up slowly from her desk with her eyes trained on the teacher. The teacher mentally patted himself on the back for getting under a student's skin. With a gleeful smile, he leaned against the corner of his desk as if he had all the time in the world. The pencil in Aiko's grip was starting to bend as she waited for him to finish speaking.

Yusuke shot the man a dirty look. What was his deal anyway; did he want his ass kicked? Yusuke wasn't in the mood for teachers putting an innocent bystander down. "What's even better news for me is that she's dying right now, this very instant, and I'm not letting you leave. You've suffered me an injury by keeping me here, so I shall return the favor to you. I hope you enjoy sitting here in detention for two hours. It will give you ample time to think about getting involved with these two rodents."

The pencil that Aiko had in her hand snapped and dug painfully into her skin. "Your mother called to let the school know that you should be on your way right now." He paused, watching Aiko leave her desk. "Miss Wakahisa, what _are_ you doing?"

Aiko had gone to the corner of the room with her brief case and opened the door to the closet, shutting it behind her.

Yusuke and Kuwabara blinked, and then looked at each other. Kuwabara jerked a thumb at the door. "I think she's lost it." He stood up, towering over the rat-like teacher who bravely tried standing his ground. "Then again, I would too if I was forced to stay here when my grandmother is dying. Let her leave sensei, I'll take her detention for today and tomorrow."

The man waved his fingers, showing off some of the buck teeth in his mouth. "Ah, ah, ah, I make the rules Kuwabara, and she has detention. Therefore, I'm not letting her leave. Why would I want to come back two days in a row when one will suffice? She'll learn, just like everyone else that being involved with you two is being branded." His eyes narrowed. "The sooner this school figures out you two are no good, the better." Kuwabara was sure that this teacher and the one from his junior high were somehow related; they both liked to make his life miserable.

A sudden swear from the closet and something falling over had the boys turning to look at the back closet. Aiko stepped out, uniform hastily stuffed into her brief case as she came out in a white t-shirt and red shorts with her school shoes. Yusuke looked at the tiny briefcase then back at her. "Where do you keep all that junk?! Gym class was two hours ago!"

Aiko shoved a head band into place, determination on her features. There was _no_ way she was letting this school rule-junkie of a teacher bind her here when her grandmother was in trouble. "Well, as I can't leave through the door, I'll take my exit now, using stage left." She quickly ran to the other side of the room towards the windows, shoving it open and throwing her briefcase outside onto the lawn below them. Yusuke's mouth dropped open for a moment before he grinned. He _liked_ the way this girl operated.

The teacher let out a strangled cry and Kuwabara caught on, helping Aiko keep the window open while she crawled out. Yusuke barred the way for the teacher, cracking his knuckles menacingly. "Now, we can go about this two different ways. Either you stand there and I beat the sh-t out of you, or you can run to the office and tell them that you decided to let Aiko leave early. You have three seconds." The teacher felt sweat form on his forehead as he looked at Yusuke to Aiko, then back to Yusuke. Immediately the man bolted and Yusuke let out a crow of triumph. "Yes! Hell yes, I still got it! Now, back to business."

Aiko swung her legs over the window sill and leaned backwards, seeing as the windows only opened maybe a foot and a half upwards. Sliding against the bottom of the concrete windowsill was difficult on her back but Aiko managed, landing on her feet outside. Kuwabara slid out next, followed by Yusuke as they shut the window behind them. Aiko grabbed her briefcase and bowed hastily to both of them. "Thank you both so much! I wouldn't have been brave enough to do that by myself!" '_I wouldn't have been able to keep the window from slamming on my head like a guillotine either.'_ Yusuke waved it off, happy that the day hadn't been a total waste. Maybe he _should_ come to school more often. Yusuke watched as she dug around in her briefcase like a squirrel, muttering something about gift cards. Gift cards? As in, free stuff? Hell, he should rescue humans more often, they gave him stuff! His eyes looked up and spotted a familiar figure at the gates. He lifted his hand and the figure gracefully crossed the grass, heading towards them.

His magenta uniform told what school he was from and Kurama crossed the grass, politely excusing himself as he passed people and weaved around them. He felt a number of eyes on him and glanced around, seeing Sarasaki girls fluttering their eyelashes at him. Thankfully none of them approached him. He spotted Yusuke and Kuwabara talking to a girl he'd never seen before, digging through her bag. He lifted a red eyebrow as he approached, standing a little ways behind Aiko so as not to intrude.

"Alrighty! Two passes for free food from Neon Café." She pulled out two white stubs and signed the back with a pen before shoving them into Yusuke and Kuwabara's hands. "Take care, I need to go, okay?" Yusuke watched as she whirled and opened his mouth to warn her that someone was behind her. Aiko only got one push forward from her foot before she nose dived into Kurama's chest. Her nose popped at the forceful contact and she bounced backwards, Yusuke's hands steadying her from falling on the ground. Rubbing her nose, she hastily bowed three times, only seeing a person with red hair in a pink uniform. Her mind immediately clicked 'female' as she began her apologies. "Sorry miss, didn't see you there. Gotta go, bye!!" Aiko said quickly as she darted past Kurama and flat out ran out the gate and down the streets. Her mind shut off it's logical side and urged her to run faster as if hell was chasing her.

The person she had run into cast sharp green eyes after her before settling on the two youth in front of him that were biting their lips. "Yusuke, Kuwabara, I suggest that you refrain from laughing."

Kuwabara and Yusuke coughed violently to hide their amusement and turned away, chuckling under their breath. "K-Kurama! How nice to s-see you again!" Yusuke snorted once before he gained a grinning face and turned back to his red haired partner.

Kurama was less than amused and brushed the dirt off his magenta uniform with a careless flick of his wrist. It wasn't every day he had girls calling him 'miss'. His hair had since grown out and his features were sharper, more defined, but no less handsome. Even his aura screamed 'masculine'. He had every female, and unfortunately some males, in his high school admiring him for his looks, brains, or all of the above. It was scary, actually. Shaking his head, his nose caught onto the scent of the girl and he glanced over his shoulder towards the gates briefly, then back at Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"We have a mission from Koenma; he needs to meet us at the East Side Docks. It's a long walk, so I suggest we get going." He started to walk across the green lawn, Yusuke and Kuwabara falling into step next to him. Once they passed the gates a black shadow joined them on the side walk, walking next to Kurama. "Out of curiosity, why were you crawling out of a window with that girl?"

Yusuke smiled, folding his hands behind his head. "Oh, just threatening teachers, beating the sh-t out of Kuwabara, and saving damsels in distress. You know, the usual." Hiei rolled his eyes discreetly.

"Hn. As if the idiot could save himself from a wet paper bag."

"Bite my ankles shorty! I'll beat you so hard that even Genki can't fix you!"

"I'd like to see you try, perhaps the exercise your weak muscles. Even then, that's not saying much."

Kurama sighed to himself and walked ahead of them with Yusuke at his side. It was going to be a long night.


	3. Lost Forever

Yusuke looked at the docks that the sun was setting on, eyes hard as he glanced around. "No, not creepy at _all._ Come on guys, let's go." The group nodded at Yusuke as they entered the smallest warehouse near the water. The doors creaked open with a hissing screech and the team walked in, seeing a single beam of light resting on a crate with a portable laptop on top in the otherwise empty room. The screen fizzled as they walked in and Koenma's adult face popped up over the screen.

Yusuke sighed softly to himself, taking a seat in front of the laptop. "So Pacifier-Breath, you're in your adult form. What, Botan forget to change your diapers?" He and Kuwabara snickered to themselves as Kurama stood behind them, Hiei leaning against the doors in the back with an indifferent face.

"This is no laughing matter Yusuke, we have a serious problem." Yusuke looked up at the dead and flat tone of Koenma and he poked the laptop screen.

"Are you going through puberty or something? I told you, those hormones are going to go up and down."

Koenma's face twitched and he reverted to his toddler form, steam curling out of his ears. "Would you just pay attention for once!? This is serious Yusuke!"

Yusuke leaned away from the laptop and nodded once. "I'm listening…"

Koenma cleared his throat and pointed to the large screen behind him with the golden borders. A picture of a sapphire colored pendant flashed across the screen on a delicate looking chain. It glittered like the stars, changing colors with just a flicker of light. If you blinked you would miss it. "This is the Orb of Changes. The mission is this: Get. It. Back. It's been tracked all over Demon World and someone with big money bought a portal big enough for a human sized demon, worth over one billion big ones."

Yusuke peered at the screen. "Why would anyone want this junkie looking jewelry? Does it make you invisible or something?"

Kurama eyed the gem carefully. As Youko he had once thought about stealing this gem from Koenma's vaults. However, the gem had been moved when wind of his interest reached Koenma's childish ears, and had never been discovered. Apparently, someone had found it. "Yusuke, this is no ordinary gem. This gem grants impossible power. If a D class demon, the lowest of the low obtained it, he would be automatically boosted to a very high B class demon. New powers, new skills, and an almost immortal life span. And that's if a low level demon found it. Imagine if someone with Toguro's powers or higher obtained it."

Shuddering Yusuke stood up and pointed at the screen. "What the hell toddler, why do you have something that powerful anyway!?"

Koenma shrugged his shoulders. "Family heirloom. It's said that there's a legend behind the pendant of two star crossed lovers. They could never be together, but their souls joined together and formed the pendant. Now, with their love powering the gem, they grant power to the wearer, so that they might 'over come all injustice', as it is inscribed on the back of the orb. The wearer will absorb the pendant into their body and become a host to its power. Unless the host dies, which the pendant will try to prevent, you can not retrieve it. The pendant hasn't been absorbed yet, to our knowledge, but it's in the human world. I thankfully paid a handsome penny for a tracking spell to be cast on it when we first moved it two hundred years ago. My scanner says that it's in Tokyo, to be precise. Please, open the luggage case next to the laptop."

Kuwabara opened it and dug through it, grinning. "Hey look! More… compacts?" He opened the communicator and held it up, seeing it was a powder blue color.

"Those are communicators, as Yusuke will tell you. But now they have tracking screens on them without the bothersome use of DNA samples like the old kit that Botan once had. Hiei and Kurama are already on file, and each has their own colored dot on the screen." Kuwabara pushed a button and it became a grid of the East Side Docks. Kurama's dot blinked onto screen, a solid green color while Hiei, a hundred feet back, was a red dot. "Humans are not registered on this in general, only if they have high spirit energy. Demons are registered as white dots. The bigger the dot, the bigger the demon. Please Yusuke, get that pendant back at all costs, and do _not_ put it on. It mutates and distorts the soul, causing unimaginable pain. Being a demon as well Yusuke, I suggest _not_ touching it at all. Kuwabara, you will need to be the possessor."

Kuwabara nodded and they stood up as the laptop started to dim. "But Koenma, I'm human, what happens if I put it on?"

"You'll be turned into a monstrous demon Kuwabara, with no hope of being changed back. The only way to stop your transformation was if you had a solid blast of demon energy to be forced into the pendant to trick it. It would think its host had finished the transformation and move on to bestow the powers, depending on how much demon energy had been given to the human. Usually, these humans become mindless and soulless. So unless you want your soul to be devoured, don't wear it."

Kuwabara blanched as the laptop blipped out, smoke pouring out of the speakers as it internally fried itself. Yusuke waved the smoke out of his face and slung the back pack given over his shoulders, handing Kurama a compact. He tossed one to Hiei who caught it, looking at it distastefully before putting it into his pocket.

"Well boys, let's go demon hunting."

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Jibbs was _never_ going to take a job like this again! The pig like demon squealed in fright every time a shadow erupted in the dense park he sat in. He had it. He had what he came for; he had it in his grubby hands! The Orb of Changes was roughly the size of a tennis ball, and it glittered like sunlight in his hands. Hiding behind a tree, he looked across the busy free way to the market across the street. He needed to hide. His master would be arriving soon to collect his prize. Their thief was excellent in getting in and out of places, and he had passed the orb off to Jibbs through a portal into the human world. Now all he had to do was wait for the next portal to show up in this spot, and it would take him directly to his master.

Jibbs knew that all of Spirit World was after him now. Their thief had been caught, and had squealed that a pig demon would have it. Thankfully, the thief hadn't known his name. All the thief knew was he was to hand it off to a pig demon in the human world wearing all blue clothing. He was that pig demon and had a rap sheet as long as his mother's tusks! And believe him, they were _long_. Shaking his head, his sensitive nose picked up the smell of food from across the street and he licked his lips greedily. The portal wouldn't be here for another hour, he could get a bite to eat, right? After all, humans made pretty decent food.

Sticking the pendant into his pocket he quickly made way across the cross walk, dodging people and taxis that went past him. His delicate nose sniffed at the food, letting out a delicious sigh. Life was sweet to him, he just knew it.

0000

Life hated him, Kuwabara just _knew _it. Yusuke and Kuwabara had split up from Kurama and Hiei to cover more ground as they each took their separate directions. A white blip on the screen had showed up ten blocks away near Tokyo Hospital once they had left the docks and hit the main street. "Come on slacker, run faster!"

Kuwabara huffed and picked up his pace, stuffing his communicator into his pocket. "Shut up Urameshi and watch me go!"

The two raced neck and neck, their feet slapping against the concrete as they headed faster and faster towards their destination. Turning the corner, the communicator went off and Yusuke opened it, seeing a white arrow pointing straight ahead. Looking up, he cussed at what he saw. The market. And why was this bad? Because it was the _Friday _night market, and it was always packed to the gills. "The demon's hiding in the friggin' market?! Oh come on, give me a break! Why can't saving the world be easy!?" Huffing he ran forward, motioning for Kuwabara to take the side.

Soon they were in the thick of the crowd, eyes searching for anything out of the ordinary.

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Aiko couldn't believe how crowded the market place was today. It was almost unreal! She shoved her way past people, exhaustion showing on her face. She had flat out run to the hospital, up the stairs, and to her grandmother's room only to see that she was fine. And what had the emergency been? She had fallen out of her bed. No cardiac arrest, no strokes, no internal bleeding, but she had fallen _out of bed._ No, that wasn't an emergency at all! Her mother had been furious that she hadn't left school soon enough though, and had lectured her for an hour about family, pride in your family, and what it meant to leave school immediately when paged. And to add to it all, her gym shirt was ripped in the back.

Aiko rolled her eyes heavenward as she sat down on a bench in the busy market place. Why her?

"I need four of those rolls, two orders of the number three special, one order of stir-fry, three orders of tempura vegetables, and one of those sacks of rice. Oh, and add some sweet sauce on the rolls."

Aiko looked up at the deep voice at the food stand in front of her, seeing a chubby and bald man ordering all that food. Her nose wrinkled as the man gave him a plate for the food and a brown paper sack for the rice. Her eyes drifted around but didn't see anyone appearing to be waiting on him. Was he going to eat that all by himself?? The food's tantalizing scent caught her nose and she sniffed delicately at the heavenly scent. Her stomach gurgled and she pressed a hand to it. Well, she might as well eat; her brother and mother were staying at the hospital tonight. Standing up, Aiko got in line behind the porker of a man for food.

He turned and sat down on the bench she had just sat in, pulling something out of his pocket and slipping it into the bag of rice he had. The clerk cleared his throat and she blushed in embarrassment for watching the man and not paying attention. "Oh, I'm sorry. May I have just an order of chicken tempura? A bag of rice too, if you please." The grocer nodded and measured out the dry rice, pouring it into a bag for her before sealing it with a twist-tie and handing it to her. She was lucky he was a grocer and a food salesman; that took care of her shopping until tomorrow at least.

She paid for the rice and her hot food, sitting down on the opposite side of the bench of the man. She glanced at him once and then did a double take, eyes widening. He had the face of a pig! She blinked once, twice, and then slowly began eating her food, trying not to stare. Aiko focused very hard on her food as the man next to her sucked down his food, making grotesque slurping noises as he shoved the food into his gaping mouth with his hands into his face.

Aiko lost her appetite after three bites when she saw his tongue scoop up the food like a shovel and bring it into his mouth. She set the plate to the side, putting her brown bag next to his on the ground as she looked at her watch. Table manners apparently were not his forte. He snorted once his food was done, spotting her barely touched plate on the bench. "You gonna eat that?"

Aiko looked at him in surprise. He was _still_ hungry? She nodded once and watched in awe and horror as Jibbs the pig demon practically siphoned the food down his throat. She grabbed her bag and stood, bowing once. "Please excuse me, I feel sick…" He grunted in reply and Aiko grimaced. He ate worse then anyone she had ever met, and that was saying something! She paused when she saw a familiar head of gelled black hair bob through the crowd, trying to get closer. Was that Yusuke?

"Hey you! With the face! Yeah, porker, put your grubby hands where I can see them!" Jibbs's head jerked upwards as Yusuke broke through the crowd of people, coming to a stop in front of their bench a few feet away. Jibbs snarled and Aiko gave Yusuke a stern look.

"Yusuke, that is _no_ way to treat a person—"

"You'll never take me alive Detective, never!!" Jibs grabbed his bag and took off running, throwing his left over food into Yusuke's face. Yusuke made a disgusted sound and wiped the sticky rice and food off of his face, trying to see which way he went.

"Hey! Stop him! Thief!" Yusuke swore as he ran after Jibbs, trying not to slip on the discarded food. Aiko jerked back as Jibbs started towards her, but her mind thought of an idea. Yusuke must be a detective's apprentice and this man was obviously wanted!

Quickly she stuck out her foot as Jibbs ran by, tripping the pig demon. What she didn't expect was for Jibbs to grab her by the hair and pull her down with him, trying to regain his balance. Their sacks went flying and landed a little ways from them, lying side by side. Jibbs ground Aiko's face into the pavement, pushing her head down as he got up. He muttered something about human wenches under his breath as he used her face to push himself back up to his feet. Aiko let out a soft cry as her hands wrapped around his wrist, digging her nails into his skin. "Put her down Porky!"

Jibbs's backbone straightened and he turned around, letting go of Aiko's hair as indignation flashed through him. "Porky? Porky?! They call me… _Mister Pig_! _YAH_!" The pig charged Yusuke and head butted him in the stomach, sending him crashing into a vendor's cart. Aiko gasped softly as the small stand went to pieces on Yusuke, burying him under planks of wood. Kuwabara came out of no where and jumped onto Jibbs's back, beating the man down until he was on the ground. Yusuke grabbed the other sack of rice off the ground, tossing Aiko one of the bags. Yusuke quickly returned to the scuffle where Kuwabara punched Jibbs so hard in the face that his nose gushed. Jibbs felt his world darken when Kuwabara did a karate chop into his neck.

Kuwabara spat to the side, pulling Jibbs to his feet and tossing the heavy weight demon over his shoulder. "Hey, I can't believe that karate chop move actually worked, just like in the movies! Excuse us folks; we're going to leave you now. Uh, bye!"

Aiko watched as the two ran off with 'Porky' across the street and into the park, disappearing into the darkness. Her hand reached up to her cheek and she winced, feeling the abrasions and scrapes that had surfaced. The vendor kicked his ruined stand, glaring at the direction those two had run off in! "_Oooh_ if I ever get my hands on those two I'll beat them an inch within their lives!" Huffing terribly, the vendor set about salvaging his cash register and the crowd went back to strolling through the stalls. Aiko sighed, wiping her bloody hand off onto her shorts.

Might as well head home.

After a few blocks of walking, Aiko shifted the bag in her hands. She didn't remember the rice bag being this heavy. She only got, what, two pounds of rice? Reaching her apartment, Aiko sat down on the stoop and tilted her bag. It looks like ordinary rice, so why did it feel like ten pounds? Was she really that tired? Her fingers brushed over the top of the rice, feeling the familiar texture in her fingers. Something cold touched her finger and felt like it shocked her fingers. Yelping softly, Aiko dropped the bag of rice and it spilt down the stoop like a small waterfall. Out of the bottom of the bag rolled a large pendant, bouncing down one stair before it landed in a cushion of rice. Aiko's eyes widened at the size of the pendant and she scrambled down the stoop, perching on the stair the pendant sat on. It shone softly in the street lights as cars went past, not noticing how entranced Aiko was with the pendant.

It changed from blue to green, making her hand hesitate in picking it up. "Wow," she breathed out softly. Her fingers dipped into the rice and she found the delicate silver chain, pulling it up and out off the rice pile. So this is what that man had stolen that Yusuke was so desperately after. If she were a thief, she would have stolen it too, its beauty was beyond compare! The round orb was large, she had to admit, but it was cut in a princess cut with delicate metal wrapped around the pendant's edges to hold it together. The back was what looked like pure silver along with the chain, and she let the loose string filter through her fingers. Finding the clasp, Aiko undid it and looked at the necklace.

It changed colors again, this time to a deep red, and she held it up to the light. Perhaps it was one of those iridescent stones? Aiko slipped the silver chain around her neck and clasped the heavy necklace around her. The pendant settled between her breasts near her heart. It felt so light now that she had it on; she wondered why it had felt heavy earlier. She needed to return this to Yusuke. The sudden thought had her sitting up straight and dropping the pendant so it rested against her open collar. He had obviously been after it, perhaps he worked part time with the police? That pig looking man had called him detective… Maybe that's why Yusuke missed school so much, because he was on cases that were top secret! Proudly patting herself on her back, Aiko swept the ruined rice off the stairs and into the street gutter, wiping her hands off on her pants.

Heading into the apartment building, she went to her floor and locked her apartment for the night. Heading up into her room, she toyed with her camera. She'd give the necklace back to Yusuke tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt to wear it for a little while, right? Quickly taking a picture of the necklace at her throat, she set the camera down as a Polaroid shot came out and started to develop itself. Aiko didn't even notice as the pendant stopped changing colors and went from red to pitch black.

0000000

Yusuke threw the pig into a tree and walked forward towards him. They had been interrogating this pig demon for an hour, going from polite talking to fist smacking, and still he wouldn't talk about who he was supposed to deliver it to. The pig had missed his portal, he knew it, and he wasn't sure he wanted to face his master now that the detectives had caught onto him. Jibbs just prayed they didn't look into the rice sack. "So let me get this straight. You knew we were coming, and yet you ran anyway. Stupid." Yusuke's fist connected with the pig's gut and Jibbs's eyes went huge as he slumped over it. "Now tell me where the orb is!" Jibbs coughed up blood onto Yusuke's arm and he let Jibbs slump onto the ground, trying to straighten out his stomach. A few ribs had cracked, and Jibbs felt sick at the taste of his own blood in his mouth.

Jibbs decided that his diaphragm being compressed wasn't worth a shiny rock and weakly pointed to the brown sack of rice. Kuwabara opened the rice and poured it onto the ground. He shook it empty and smeared the rice with his hands, but found nothing. "It's not here Yusuke!"

Yusuke turned back on Jibbs and lifted him off of the ground by the scruff of his tunic, pointing his finger at Jibbs's forehead. "You have three seconds to tell me where it is before I blow your head off. One…" A bead of sweat rolled down Jibbs's face between his eyes. "Two…" Jibbs's already harsh breathing escalated as he stared at the rice, then Yusuke's unhappy eyes. "Three." Yusuke let his finger light up and Jibbs flailed in his grip.

"No! I swear I don't have it, it was in the bag! Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" Yusuke dropped Jibbs to the floor where he latched onto Yusuke's ankle, groveling quietly into the ground.

Yusuke half limped and half dragged Jibbs over to Kuwabara and the rice pile, frowning at it. "That's not right though, he put it in the bag. So where is it…?"

Kuwabara scratched his chin, looking down at the rice thoughtfully. "Well, his bag and Aiko's bag went flying when you tackled him, right? Maybe it fell out at the market. Somebody could have picked it up, or put it back into his bag or Aiko's. Wait…"

They both looked at each other as the same thought crossed their minds. "Aiko's bag!" Yusuke kicked Jibbs off his foot and pulled out his cell phone and communicator. "Kuwabara, call Keiko on the cell phone and ask for Aiko's address." He tossed the cell phone to Kuwabara who dialed Keiko's number and put the speaker to his end.

While it rang, Yusuke opened the communicator and looked at the buttons. One button said 'Call' and he pressed it. The screen came up with four possible names to call and he used the tiny arrow keys, pressing Kurama's name.

Jibbs saw their preoccupation and started slithering backwards, his hands forming seals as he quietly muttered under his breath. Jibbs only had one attack; Hounds of Hell. It was a death sentence to him, and in this condition, he knew he wouldn't be able to survive it. The blood in his mouth started to turn into black smoke and he watched it rise in the night air, moving to lay behind him like a black rolling fog. The most wolves he had ever made was three before he had canceled the spell to save his own skin. Coughing up more blood, it turned into smoke and Jibbs finished his chant, letting his body lay limp in the grass. His hounds were vicious, with three eyes each and two rows of impossibly sharp teeth. It was meant as a pig's revenge if he was slain, to send these hounds after their murderer to hound him until he went to hell. Thus their name, the hounds of hell.

However, the spell took time to be put into affect, the one thing he didn't have much of. He fished in his pocket for a moment before pulling out what looked like a remote controller with one shiny button on top. His pale fingers shook and pressed the button. You always needed to have back up, and Jibbs believed in having a lot. This Aiko person must have the pendant, the little wench from the market who'd given him her left over food to eat. Pigs generally respected the person who showed them kindness, and he felt annoyed that a food-giver got mixed up in this business.

As his lungs started to fail, he choked a little on air and coughed violently, more smoke pouring out of his mouth, nose, and the various cuts on his body. He would make Yusuke pay and pay dearly. He just hoped his wolves could inflict a lot of damage before Yusuke or Kuwabara slew them all.

00000

On the other side of town Kurama felt the compact vibrate in his pocket and he opened it, standing on the stoop to his house. His efforts had turned up fruitless; hopefully Yusuke had something. He watched the screen turn on and Yusuke's shadowed face open up on the screen. "Hey there Kurama old pal! I'm about to give you an address, so listen carefully, okay?"

Something scuffled on the other end and Yusuke disappeared before Jibbs's sweating face was shown on the communicator. His beady eyes locked onto Kurama and he squealed shrilly, making Kurama's ears ring. "See, this is our man, and he got into a scuffle with me at the market. Unfortunately, his bag got switched with Aiko's, so now we have a problem."

"Miss Aiko has the correct bag then I presume."

Yusuke winked once, dropping Jibbs to give him thumbs up. "See, that's why you're the smart one Kurama, I don't have to explain nothin'. Anyways, Aiko's the girl who ran into you earlier this afternoon, called you a girl." Kurama gave Yusuke an unamused look when Yusuke grinned, threatening to laugh. He didn't notice the black smoke forming in the night background behind Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Anything else Yusuke…?"

Yusuke snorted once and nodded, still grinning. "Sorry man, it's just funny. Now, here's the address… Kuwabara, what's the address?!"

The screen rapidly shifted and Kuwabara appeared, giving Yusuke the finger. "Shut up Urameshi, Keiko's trying to give it to me. Uh… Right. Apartment 2B, third floor, across the street from the Neon Café. You know where the Neon Café is?"

Kurama frowned for a moment in thought. "Vaguely. It's next door to the city library almost. That's only four blocks from here."

Chuckling was heard in the back ground and the screen refocused onto Jibbs as he grabbed the communicator from Kuwabara's hands. His eyes looked like he had gone mad and delirious, unfocused on anything. How hard had Yusuke hit him?

"Thanks for providing the address boys; you've done my job for me! Ha! Ahah!" The screen shuddered as Kuwabara grappled for the communicator and Jibbs let it go, rolling on the grassy forest floor while laughing. A sudden barking sound and growling was heard, and he saw Yusuke and Kuwabara's face fill with dread as they looked at each other.

Yusuke and Kuwabara turned slowly to look behind them, seeing black smoke erupt from Jibbs's mouth in a final puff of smoke before Jibbs stopped breathing. The smoke took the form of a wolf and as more smoke formed two other wolves, his body started to decay, turning into a pile of bones and ash. "Ew, gross!! It's on my shoes!" Kuwabara and Yusuke jerked back as sharp growling and snarling was directed at them. Kuwabara shook at the sight of the glowing red eyes of the three wolves, gulping once.

"Piggy here couldn't have just told us what happened, _noooo_, he had to go and make smoke monsters to eat us! Sorry Kurama, but we gotta go. I'd hurry to her house; she's going to have company most likely!" Scuffling ensued before the screen went black and Kurama used the compact to call Hiei, silently hoping that the apparition would answer his call. He took off at a run down the side walk, taking alleys to shorten his trip. He sighed softly in relief when Hiei picked up.

"Hiei, Yusuke and Kuwabara have demon wolves in the park near the hospital. Do you know where that is?"

Hiei looked to the side and into the distance, and then nodded his head once. "Good, they're going to need help. When you three are done, follow my energy signature. I'm sure you can find me."

Hiei looked back towards Kurama, squinting at the tiny camera held in the communicator. "And what are you going to do fox?"

Kurama narrowly avoided being hit by a car, the driver screaming after him. One block to go. "I'm going to this Aiko's house, to get the necklace. Hopefully she hasn't discovered it yet, and nothing has discovered her." A shrill scream in the air had his head jerking up and he slid to a halt in front of the stoop, seeing the scattered rice and bag. He hung up on Hiei and shoved the communicator into his pocket, spotting the fire escape. Jumping onto the railing for the stoop, he jumped to the fire escape and started climbing up it, mentally counting down floors. Another shrill scream had his ears nearly ringing as he found an open hallway window to the third floor.

_Please, don't let me be too late._

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Ten. Freaking. Pages. (Faints) I watched the entire dark tournament saga just to get this chapter cranked out!! (:Double faint:) Cue exit, stage left.

Please, tell me what you guys think, I'd love to hear from you. Even if it /is/ OC pairings. Oh well, I gotta get my fix somewhere.

I'm thinking about doing fan art, but since I suck at drawing, it'll probably be photomanipulations or my crappy sketches. u-u Can anyone in the audience draw?

Love you guys, thanks for the reviews!

(OK)


	4. Pain Part One

Aiko was not happy. No, she was not happy at all. Armed with a fly swatter, Aiko chased a cockroach around the kitchen table, swatting at it as it scurried across the floor. Every time it changed direction she let out a piercing scream. The cockroach itself was confused. He faced certain doom running away, but running towards the fly swatter girl made her scream and run away. It was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place! Aiko slapped the fly swatter as hard as she could, missing the roach as it crawled under the door and out into the hallway of the complex. "Ew! Ew, ew, ew, ew, ewwwww!!" A shudder racked her body and she held a hand over her accelerated heart beat, pushing her bobbed bangs from her eyes.

The cockroach was worse for wear, hiding outside in the hallway. It let out a screech when a foot nearly stepped on it, moving to the side as a foot stood outside of the hallway. Kurama pressed his ear to the door, listening for scuffling, more screams, or any furniture being over turned. It was quiet, and that worried him. Had they escaped through a window? His eyes narrowed down on the handle and he turned it, finding locked. At least she was smart enough to keep her door locked at night. Manipulating his energy into a small seed, a vine grew quickly in his hand, slipping into the keyhole and moving the tumblers. It clicked open and he retracted the seed, putting it away in a small pocket.

The door didn't even creak as he carefully slipped inside, eyes darting about as he shut and locked the door behind him. He needed to hurry. His senses checked the first floor of the small apartment, feeling her low spirit energy in the kitchen. It was fluctuating madly and Kurama had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was too late for at least part of the problem.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" Better to alert her of his presence and pretend the door had been open then to creep inside like a thief.

Aiko paused in the kitchen, half way between pulling a copper pot out of the cabinet above her head. Slowly she closed the cabinet door and moved to the doorway's side to the living room. Kurama saw her shadow and his eyes narrowed slightly. "The door was wide open, and I was looking for a Wakahisa-san. Aiko, I believe. Yusuke sent me."

Aiko stepped into the doorway fully, copper pot in hand as a weapon as she warily stepped forward. "Who are you and how the hell did you get inside?" Apparently her brother's mouth had been rubbing off on her. At her very tense position, Kurama did a quick scan of her. The necklace around her neck glittered and he frowned, staring at it as it fluctuated. Unnoticed to her, it was starting to glow, the glow changing with the colors. Aiko saw his eyes drift downwards and her hands clenched the pot tighter, mistaking his gaze for a bit _lower_ than the necklace.

"Hey! My eyes are up here ma'am! I don't know who you are, but staring at my chest doesn't earn you bonus points!" Besides, a girl staring at her chest was, to put it nicely, very creepy. She didn't have much of a chest to begin with, and it thankfully didn't garner her male attention.

Kurama's jaw clenched lightly. That was the third time he'd been called a girl in one day. He was _not_ a girl. Sweeping his long red hair over his shoulder and his bangs to one side, he leveled catty green eyes at her. "I am not a girl, Miss Wakahisa-san." He held up his hand to show calluses and how large his hand actually was. "I do not have the anatomy or the uniform. If I were female, I would be in a skirt." Aiko blinked, scanning him quickly. Oh dear, he was a boy, and not a girl… Oops. Her face flushed in embarrassment and she put the copper pot on the counter next to her, scratching the back of her neck.

"Oh… Um, I'm sorry. It's been a weird day, um…" Aiko's eyes scrutinized him for a moment. Where had she seen a pink uniform today? The tree outside of school! She'd tripped over a tree root and run straight into someone! Who happened to be wearing a pink… uniform? Oh hell. Her hand hit her forehead and she winced from her mistake and from slapping herself. "I'm sorry! Honest, I didn't know you were a boy! I'm sorry!"

Kurama discreetly coughed, silently pleased that she was apologizing. At least she didn't make fun of him like Yusuke did. "As much as this conversation is interesting, we must leave. Yusuke needs you badly."

Aiko looked at Kurama with raised eyebrows, dusting a bit of flour off her gym shorts she hadn't changed out of yet. "What are you talking about? I just saw him an hour ago, he's a detective."

Kurama's eyes narrowed. How much did this human exactly know? "That doesn't matter at the moment. You are in danger. People are coming to get you this very moment, and we need to leave. Write a note to your parents saying you're with Keiko Yukimora and we'll leave. This is of dire importance."

Aiko looked at him in confusion before nodding once and retreating into the kitchen. Kurama glanced around her living room, looking for possible exits. Footsteps outside of her door had him turning. Placing a seed on the doorway, it sprouted to life and sealed the door over with white vines, matching the white paint on the walls as it sealed the door. It slipped through the cracks and thorns grew on the outside. The small group of demons outside of the door jiggled the doorknob on the outside and started banging, cursing loudly as they ripped at the thorns. Kurama quickly went into the kitchen as she finished writing her note, feeling the demon auras outside of her apartment quickly gathering.

Aiko rubbed at the back of her neck, feeling her breathing escalate. "I don't feel good… Can I get some stuff real quick?" Her eyes darted to the front door as people yelled and banged on her door. Were people after her because she'd witnessed that man getting taken down? Were they thieves and after her because she was a witness?!

Kurama shook his head, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to the kitchen window where the fire escape was. He quickly slid it open and ushered her out first. "Get out first; we'll worry over supplies later. We don't have time—"

Aiko pushed his shoving hands away and got onto the fire escape, quickly going downward as he closed the window behind him. Another seed and the thorns overtook the window, quickly covering the walls and the kitchen as it invaded the entire inside of the house. He could hear the door break down behind them and he urged Aiko silently forward.

Aiko to say the least was confused. She had a random stranger tell her that Yusuke needed her and they were climbing down her fire escape to get away. Oh yes, she was definitely sane! Aiko stumbled when she hit the ground from the fire escape, going to one knee as her world blurred for a moment. She felt her forehead, surprised at how hot it was. "I think I have a fever."

Kurama landed next to her, pretending to stumble a little instead of the grace he usually used. No need to tip her off just yet. Aiko looked up at him as he led her out of the alley way and he took off at a run down the street. Aiko didn't run but jogged, feeling dizzy. Kurama turned after a moment to see she hadn't followed. He ran back, grasped her elbow, and started pulling her down the street. At first she did well, keeping pace with his fast running, weaving through people successfully. However, after a few blocks Aiko was breathing hard. She had run track last year and a few blocks were no problem, but something felt off. It was like she couldn't get enough energy to her legs to propel her forward.

A sudden jolt of pain lanced down her back and Aiko fell forward, stumbling and headed with a meet and greet with the side walk. Kurama kept her from falling all the way by grabbing her elbow and with a quick jerk of his hand had her back up. "Now is not the time to stop Miss Wakahisa-san. Miss Wakahisa?" He slowed to a stop on the busy side walk next to her as Aiko doubled over, clutching her stomach. "Wakahisa-san, what's wrong?" The smell of copper assaulted his nose and he saw her spit blood onto the ground, going to her knees as she started shaking.

"It hurts!" Her voice shook as the necklace around her neck started to slowly sink into her skin, trying to merge with her body. It was giving off electric pulses to her nervous system, wreaking havoc on the inside. Her organs were trying to stay stable under the pulsing shock waves, but it wasn't working. She dry heaved on the side walk, spitting up more blood.

The first phase of the necklace was beginning, and they didn't have time for her to break down into a ball. Kurama looked around them quickly before kneeling next to her. "Can you stand?"

Aiko shook her head rapidly. She didn't want to be a baby and cry out from the pain, but she didn't understand what was happening. The necklace around her neck was hot like a burning piece of iron and it felt like it was searing her skin. "Get on my back Wakahisa-san, I'll carry you. We cannot linger behind here."

Aiko rubbed her mouth off on her arm and moved over closer to him. Kurama made quick work of her weak muscles and pulled her onto his back, hooking his arms under her legs and standing back up. He started running and Aiko cringed into his back at the jolting movements. She would not get sick on his back, she would not get sick on his back, she would not get sick on her back, and how in the world was he strong enough to run and carry her?

Aiko didn't question it as her forehead rested against his shoulder, trying to keep her stomach from revolting. What had been in that food? The necklace paused its color changing and settled on maroon. Kurama made it down the five blocks, police cars with sirens going down the opposite way as them back towards the apartment complex. His communicator rang in his pocket and he managed to pull it out while balancing one of Aiko's feet. He flipped it open to see a worse for wear Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Hey Kurama, did you pick her up?"

Kurama inclined his head, narrowly avoiding being hit by a taxi as the light turned green while he crossed a street. "Yes, I've got her. Yusuke, she put the necklace on. I got there as a group of lower demons did. We went out the kitchen window and down the fore escape."

Kuwabara peered into the scream to see the pale faced and clammy looking Aiko hiding against his shoulder. "How'd you get her to go willingly?"

"I told her your name Yusuke. She was threatening me with a copper pot."

Yusuke snorted softly, pushing Kuwabara away so he could see the screen. "Well, that's just dandy, we can't just kill her off to get the necklace back! This pig demon thing and his smoke tricks have been taken care of. I'm tired as hell though, let's find a place we can take her. Maybe Koenma has a loop hole to take that thing off." Kurama nodded. "Let's head over to Kuwabara's. It's closer to where you are, and I don't think your mom would appreciate you bringing home a bleeding girl." He had a point… Yusuke hung up and Kurama held onto the communicator as he ran. Two blocks to go and the smell of blood was getting stronger from Aiko. This wasn't going to be good.

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Yusuke dialed Botan on the little communicator, waiting until the screen blipped. She had her hair in rollers and a green mud mask on. "Yusuke, this had better be good, I was getting ready to get to Genki's temple!"

Yusuke snorted once, rubbing dirt off his cheek. "You know what Botan? We have more important things to do then smearing green mud on our faces. You know the mission we're on?"

Botan clapped her hands together in delight on the screen. "Oh good! You got the necklace back!"

Yusuke rubbed the back of his neck and Kuwabara started to leave the park. Yusuke followed after him, smiling a bit nervously. "Well… yes and no. Well, I have two good news and one really big bad news that kind of destroys it all."

Botan scowled. "Well, give me the good news first then!"

"We know who has the necklace and happily she's a friend of mine. She's looking after it with Kurama and they're heading to Kuwabara's right now."

Botan scowled harder. "Well what's the problem then? I'll get a portal ready for Kurama so he can bring the necklace back!"

"The friend decided to play dress up and tried it on before we could warn her what it was."

Botan went silent and Yusuke waited for her to say something. After moments of silence he let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, can't we just, I don't know, extract her soul so the necklace comes off then put the soul back in her? She'll just fall asleep and we'll say it's a bad dream!"

Botan shook her head. "It doesn't work that way Yusuke. I'll go tell Koenma and we'll be there soon." She hung up with a click and he sighed with aggravation, shoving the compact into his pocket.

"This bites!"

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Kuwabara and Yusuke made it to the apartment moments before Kurama and his passenger did. Hiei stepped out of the shadows near the doorway as Kuwabara fumbled to unlock it. He jerked his shoes off near the front door. "Hey Sis! I'm home! And I've got friends! And a dying chick!"

Yusuke slapped Kuwabara in the back of the head. "Way to go stupid, alert the whole world that she's here!"

Shizuru walked into the main hallway of the apartment complex, the cigarette in her mouth nearly falling out at the sight of the beat up teenagers and the bleeding school girl. "Get her on the couch and prop her up so she doesn't drown in her own blood. Why the hell did you bring her here Kazuma, can't you do anything right?! Take her to a hospital!"

Kurama ignored the fight that erupted and carefully put Aiko on the couch, using the cushions to prop her up. Hiei wandered into the room and moved to the edge of the couch where she was propped up, his nose discreetly scenting the air. "She smells like death."

Yusuke shot Hiei a sharp look. "Don't say that Hiei! She'll pull through, she's tough!"

Hiei scoffed. "You died once to become a detective for spirit world, and then you died again to become a demon. How do you think she'll fair? She isn't kin to a demon king like you were Yusuke. She's going to die." He turned to walk away but something gripped his wrist and kept him still for a moment.

Aiko's hand had shot out and grabbed Hiei's wrist while her eyes tried focusing in on him. "I-I—" She coughed violently, spitting up more blood. She would have died of embarrassment to have spit running down her chin if she wasn't in so much pain. Forcing the blindingly hot sensation aside, she tried to focus on the black and cold figure she was gripping. "I dare you to say that to my face! I-" Aiko let go of Hiei quickly and clutched her stomach as her insides twisted painfully. The necklace was glowing brighter now, illuminating the corner she was in with a dark red light. Her fingers grasped at the latch and tried to pull it off but only succeeded in hurting herself even more.

Hiei glared, wiping his hand off on his cape before moving to sit in the windowsill across the room. "Pull through or die, I don't care. If you die it makes my job easier."

Kurama shot him a sharp look as he straightened upwards. "It doesn't matter, but we need Koenma here. He said giving a human under the influence demon energy would stop the necklace from destroying the body and it would move onto its second phase."

Hiei glowered at Kurama. "Go ahead and give her energy then fox, I won't stop you. She'll still turn insane from the raw power she can't control if she lives through this."

Yusuke threw his shoe at Hiei, the black apparition moving out of the way quickly. "Would you two just shut up for a second and let me think!? Kurama, do your little energy transfer thing, I'll be there in a second. Kuwabara, get your sister to get some bandages and towels; this is going to get messy. Where the hell is pacifier breath!?"

A loud _pop_ sounded in the room before Koenma appeared in the room in toddler form, landing gently on the carpet. "Yo."

Aiko stared through hazy eyes as a toddler appeared in mid air. A toddler. She was going crazy; the pain was making her hallucinate. The vendor had been a psychopath who poisoned his food with rat poisoning that was tasteless and she was dying from it. Aiko managed to swallow the bile that rose up her throat, curling into the couch as best she could. She focused on her breathing and forced it to slow, trying to contain the scream of pain that she wanted to let loose. She couldn't stop the moans of pain or the sharp whimpers. "Yu…Yusuke."

The black haired youth looked up at Aiko on the couch who glowered at him. Her violet eyes were clouded over completely at this point from the pain. Koenma transformed into his adult form and pulled Aiko's legs out from their tight and cramped position under her. "I'm going t-to kick your butt once I can move. HELL! Stop touching me!!" Her voice came out as a scream when Koenma tried prying her arms away from her stomach. Her skin was turning a light blue and Koenma's face turned grim.

"She's internally bleeding into her stomach, look at how it's pooling along her ribs and abdomen. Yusuke, Kurama, come here, quickly." Yusuke stood at Aiko's head and Kurama next to him while Koenma stood near her knees. "I want you to put a hand on her shoulder and channel your energy into her as quickly as you can. We'll try to trick the necklace into thinking the transformation is complete, before it rips her apart. She won't survive a demon transformation."

Aiko couldn't see at this point, the pain was so much. She curled into herself again, every inch of her throbbing in sync to her rapid pulse. She was shaking uncontrollably and for a moment she thought she might be having a seizure. "Don't stop channeling your energy because the necklace will try repairing what it's damaged and your demon energy will help it instead of killing her." Koenma pushed Aiko's head back so she was tilted back against the cushion. She was shaking so hard that the couch trembled from the force of it. Her back arched to try and relieve the pain and Yusuke's hands pinned her shoulders down.

"Yusuke, do it now before her blood pressure bottoms and her heart stops!"

Yusuke charged his hand up with energy and it flickered red around his fist. Kurama did the same, forming a ball of energy. Yusuke nodded once to Kurama and they forced the energy into Aiko's shoulder and into her body. The necklace's glowing stopped and turned into flickering as the energy flooded through her body. Aiko let out a loud scream of pain as the pure energy and electricity ripped through the inside of her body. The necklace channeled it to her damaged stomach and liver lining that had ruptured and sealed it, returning the blood to a nearby vein near the intestines. Her colored skin slowly returned to normal and Aiko's arched back lowered until she was flat on the couch again, struggling to stay conscious.

Yusuke grit his teeth as he started to run on empty. After fighting Jibbs and the wolf army from hell, along with the Genki's training this past week, he was scraping the bottom now. Kurama kept his hand steady, pushing a steady flow of the demonic energy into Aiko's body.

Shizuru and Kuwabara watched from behind them silently, waiting for Koenma to pronounce her dead or alive.

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It was going to be longer, but it's the wee hours of the morning and I'm splitting it up into a new chapter. Aiko feels rushed to me, like she hasn't had much time to adjust herself into the story. o0; Oh well, I'll have to give her time to settle in then.

PS: What pairing should this story be? Hiei/OC or Kurama/OC? I can't decide, I like both pairings.

Love, OK


	5. Pain Part Two

An hour had passed since they had begun the energy transfer. Kurama filtered the last of his energy into the human body that was lying stilly on the couch, watching as her body relaxed gradually. He let the energy flicker and die before stepping back, rotating his shoulder from staying still for so long.

Aiko's sweat had her hair plastered to her skin that was pale white and clammy. She moaned softly in her sleep before moving to get more comfortable. Kurama took another step back when Shizuru moved forward with a bottle of water and medical supplies in hand. Koenma motioned to the group and they moved into the kitchen next to the living room.

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Aiko's eyes struggled against the energy flowing through her. It was hot like liquid oil and she was sure that she couldn't take it much longer. It was electrifying, like being wrapped in an electric fence on it's highest setting. Her jaw clenched and unclenched as she tried not to scream her lungs out. Minutes ticked by, then half an hour, then a full hour and her body was shaking terribly. She couldn't take this anymore!! Right when she was about to scream for it to stop the sensation retracted, leaving her body shaky and freezing. Aiko slid down the propped cushions to get more comfortable as the group of boys moved into the kitchen.

She could hear their soft talking but couldn't make out what they were saying. Groaning softly, she felt something cool touch her forehead. Her violet eyes opened slowly to see Shizuru's face hovering over her's. "You look like hell ran you over kid. Got a name?"

Aiko swallowed thickly and nodded her head. She spotted the water bottle in Shizuru's hands and Aiko motioned to it. Shizuru helped Aiko sit up carefully and let her drink from the water bottle, watching her throat slowly work to get the liquid down her throat. Aiko greedily drank from it and Shizuru took the bottle back when Aiko began to choke from drinking too fast. "Easy kid, sip at it. Your stomach just got a major knock out punch. I don't want you getting sick on my couch or the carpet. So, nod your head if you'll sip for me." Aiko gave her a displeased look but nodded her head. She carefully sipped from the bottle when it was in range and her eyes nearly closed in bliss.

The pain was gone. The terrible and searing pain was over. Her limbs felt like liquid, but she could deal with not moving for awhile. She just wanted to know where she was and what was going on, because Aiko was _really_ confused. Once she had her fill, Aiko's shaky fingers pushed the bottle away and swallowed the last of the water. "I'm Aiko Waka_hi_sa." She slurred over her own name for a moment as she fought against her heavy eyelids and the exhaustion. Shizuru smiled a little and shook her head. "Shizuru Kuwabara. Kazuuma, the carrot top, is my little bro'. I'm sorry you've been pulled into this…"

Aiko's eyebrows creased for a moment. Kuwabara was in this too? Was he a detective too like Yusuke? Suddenly she wasn't sure that Yusuke was a detective anymore. He might've been a cop's assistant or something, but now he was more like a drug lord, hiding her away from the world because she'd gotten her hands on this necklace on accident. Maybe he was jewelry launderer!

She briefly thought about the possibilities then scratched it out mentally. Like Yusuke would ever get into a business that could threaten his family. He seemed too close to Keiko to let anything threatening like that possibly hurt her. "Where… am I? What happened?"

Shizuru shrugged. "Hell if I know kid. My brother and his friends brought you in here bloodied and beat up it looks like. Red found you first, apparently." Aiko frowned at the nickname before it clicked. Oh, the school boy with the red hair. Didn't he have a name? She shrugged and winced at the heavy twinges of pain. The black haired emo kid needed a name too. For now she would dub him Morbid. It seemed like a good name for a random stranger to want her death. Jerk face. Aiko was left to her thoughts as Shizuru stood up, putting the medical bandages back into the case she had brought. Shizuru's face was calm and composed as she watched Aiko's face flit through different emotions. Anger, confusion, pain, and exhaustion were just a few of them. She didn't think she'd met anyone who was so expressive with their feelings.

Sitting up more on the couch, Aiko gently rubbed her sore stomach. Nothing broken, no bleeding, nothing. Had she dreamed it all? She looked up at Shizuru, her eyes narrowing weakly so she could focus. Yusuke was about to eat pavement for making her body go through whatever it had just transpired. "Where's Yusuke? I'm going to kick his butt for making me so sick…" She tried standing but Shizuru just used her finger to push her back down. Aiko was too weak to protest and she landed with a little bounce, hissing as it jarred her body.

"Not so fast kid. Yusuke didn't do anything to get his ass beat over today, except maybe ditching Keiko at home. Don't worry about the who's and where's until the boys come back and explain it. For now just rest. You hungry?" Aiko nodded her head rapidly and Shizuru smiled lightly again. "Alright, I'll see if I can get some clear soup for you."

* * *

Popping into toddler form, Koenma started pacing the counter tops in the kitchen. "So Spirit Brat, what now? She gonna live or am I going to have to tell her parents that their little kid died in a car accident somewhere to cover this up?"

Koenma shot Yusuke a look for his smart mouth before sitting on the counter. "Sit down and shut up for once Yusuke. I'm trying to collect my thoughts." Yusuke opened his mouth to comment but the look on Koenma's face had him stopping. He looked over stressed, at least more than usual, and there were bags under his eyes from not sleeping. Koenma motioned the others to take a seat as well while he mulled over the speech he had planned. Kuwabara pulled the bar stools out and everyone sat down except for Hiei. He moved to the corner of the room and sat in the windowsill there. The potted plant that had been there was instantly evicted to the floor instead. "Right. Well, we averted one small disaster, but I'm afraid we've only just made the problem worse."

Yusuke glared at Koenma, throwing his hands up into the air. "What the hell? Not five seconds ago we just saved her life, and now you're complaining? Are you PMSing or what?!"

Koenma felt a vein start to tick at his forehead and he looked at Yusuke. "She's a walking contradiction Yusuke with one of the world's most powerful artifacts hanging around her neck! You think she's safe?!" Forcing himself to not rant further, his teeth ground together before he had his calm back. "There are three phases to that orb, sometimes a fourth. The matching necklace that went to that one was destroyed long ago, so the forth phase is impossible. Phase one; transform the body into either a demon or a stronger being. Phase two, into a coma to repair itself from damages inflicted while transforming. Phase three, wake up from said coma and be this powerful being. Usually demons who got their mitts on the necklace became more mindless than before and just destroyed everything. However, Phase four—"

Kuwabara spoke this time. "Wait, there were two of those necklaces?"

Kurama inclined his head once, folding his hands in his lap. "At one point, yes. Destroyed centuries ago, long before Youko's time. These two orbs came in a set that were never to be separated, but the rumor was that the gems were actually souls trapped inside. The Orb of Changes was the woman and the Orb of Souls was the man. They were secret lovers, coming from two different classes of demon that would have never allowed their union. Because of those circumstances, they could not be together. To insure they wouldn't face the same fate when they reincarnated, they went to a sorcerer to have their souls put into an object so they would never be apart, destined to mingle for all eternity in a small space. The sorcerer was clumsy at best and put them in two separate necklaces he owned on accident. Whenever a woman or a man put on either necklace, it sought out the other and tried to live out their lives through their hosts. The 'what if's' and 'what could have been's'. "

Koenma inclined his head once Kurama was finished. "Something like that, yes."

Kuwabara shook his head. "So, wait a minute. If, for example, two head honcho demons that were guys each put the necklace on and survived, then they'd start wanting each other?"

Koenma felt a sweat drop roll down the back of his head. "Well… Weirder things have happened." Kuwabara shuddered. "However, because the other necklace was destroyed, the Orb of Changes won't progress into Phase Four, where it would actively seek out its mate. No, that soul was reincarnated long ago."

"How certain are you about that Koenma?"

Everyone's heads turned to look at Hiei in the corner who had scoffed quietly. "One soul out of millions? How would you know that the soul was effectively reincarnated?" Koenma scowled and Hiei leveled him a look. "You never thought it possible for someone to raid your vaults, but they have. You never thought it possible for someone else to get their hands on the Chapter Black video tape either. You have your faults Koenma."

Koenma felt another vein start to tick next to the first and his fist clenched. Kurama decided it was time to intervene. "I think what Hiei means is we should double check, to make sure the other necklace isn't in existence. Even a fragment of that charmed necklace could cause us more trouble. Please, continue Lord Koenma."

Soothed by Kurama's calming words, Koenma rubbed at his forehead. "The orb changes colors for a reason. During Phase Two it will put its host into a coma that could last hours or days while it fuses more energy into the host, granting it powers. Each color goes to a specific power. Think of it like a wheel that is spun and it has prizes and colors on each slot. A blue slot would mean water based powers. A green slot would mean grass based powers. It goes on and on." Pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket, Koenma quickly scanned it until he found the chart on the back. The chart looked like a rainbow wheel, like something off a game show. "So, let's see here… What color did it stop on?"

Kuwabara leaned back in his chair in the doorway to see it was still glowing a dull red. Yusuke grabbed his chair leg and yanked him back down, nearly unseating Kuwabara. "It's on red." Koenma nodded, ignoring the quick hitting fight that Yusuke and Kuwabara quickly got into.

"Yes… Ah! Here it is! Red. Red is the color of passion and associated with… sound based attacks." Yusuke looked up from the headlock he was in, grunting softly.

"So, what, she screams and buildings collapse?"

Koenma nodded and put the scrap of paper away. "Something like that. Music, how fitting. Women have always been sirens in mythology, perhaps this could work out in our favor. Yusuke, new mission. Protect that girl at all costs. The instant, no, now. Let's take her to Genki right now. No demon can get through Genki's barrier unless she allows it. I'll get a portal set up here in the next two hours or so. Think you can protect a little apartment for that long?" His face fell for a moment as he jumped off of the counter to the floor. "For now… For now I'll have to play the bad guy." Koenma transformed into a teenager once again and walked into the other room to Aiko's body. His eyes scanned her briefly for something of value or a personal momento. Lifting a silver chain off of her neck, he felt Aiko stir to look up at him with hazy eyes. "I'm sorry Aiko, but I'm going to make you disappear for awhile." With a quick jerk he pulled off the silver locket from around her neck as the orb pulsed with life. He would have to hurry.

* * *

Aiko had fallen asleep on the couch while Shizuru went into the kitchen to get food. Dozing lightly, her eyes opened when she felt something warm brush against her neck. Sitting up again, Aiko felt a light tug before the thin snap of the silver chain broke. She looked up to see the teenage Koenma standing over her, the silver locket dangling from his palm. "H-Hey! Give that back, that's not yours!" She coughed a little as her hands groped for it. Koenma pulled back before she could reach and she fell to the ground with a loud thud. She cringed a little and heard footsteps as the others quickly moved into the room.

Yusuke stepped forward and helped Aiko up, pulling her to her feet. "Koenma, what the hell, she's supposed to be recovering, not falling off couches!"

Koenma pocketed the necklace and looked back to Yusuke. "Take care of her while I'm gone Yusuke." Yusuke nodded and Koenma lifted his hand and let his middle finger lightly brush over Aiko's forehead. "Get some sleep Aiko. You're going to be a missing person for a while, but don't worry. We'll take care of your family."

Aiko's eyes widened as the sudden brush to her forehead brought a light sizzle of power. "Wait, what's going on, I… can't… Mom…" Aiko's eyes closed and she went limp as Koenma's small spell put her to sleep. Yusuke caught the girl as her legs went out from under her and laid her back on the couch.

Koenma looked to the group of boys. "I'll get Botan to make the portal. It would look weird if you were carrying an unconscious girl through train stations and what not. I'll be back."

* * *

The outside of Aiko's apartment was swirling with people and cops as Koenma appeared in an alleyway next to the apartment. He was wearing a Tokyo police uniform with a badge and cap on his head, the JR on his forehead invisible. The pacifier stayed in his mouth, but anyone with no spirit awareness like normal humans wouldn't see it anyway. He was impersonating a high ranking officer, but being ruler of Spirit World, he thought he could pull it off just this once. Stepping out of the alley way, he placed the necklace into an evidence bag he swiped from the back of a police car and labeled it quickly with a pen before moving through the crowd of police officers and fire fighters. The demons after the necklace had done a good job at least. They'd set the apartment on fire, ransacked the rest of the building, and most of it was ashes now. The only thing left of the apartment building was the foundation and part of the east wall and some pieces of the roof. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt or dead.

Spotting Aiko's mother and brother in the back of an ambulance, he strode forward easily and crossed the yellow Xing tape. "Mrs. Wakahisa I presume?"

The older woman looked up and Koenma bowed respectfully to her. He was taking her only child and he had little to offer her as a consolation. She and her son were covered in soot, mild burns ranging from their hands to their arms. The EMTs who were bandaging them up moved aside so he could speak to her alone. The only thing clean on her face was the tear streaks on her cheeks and chin. He handed her the evidence bag and the woman's hands shook as she took it from him. "This is Aiko's necklace! But…" She looked up at Koenma's brown eyes, violet searching for any reassurance in his eyes. She didn't find any. Koenma closed his eyes with a soft sigh.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but there are no traces of your daughter in the fire." Her eyes lit up with hope.

"Then she's alive? She's alive somewhere? She's not dead?"

Koenma nodded his head. "We don't know. We're trying to locate her now as we speak." He hesitated as she looked down, holding her son tighter as he started to cry into her shoulder. "Mrs. Wakahisa… keep your light burning. She'll come home soon." The woman nodded as her eyes ran with more tears and she held her son closer in her lap. Koenma turned and left the two as fire fighters moved forward to attend to their injuries again. Ditching the outfit, he let his appearance fade back into his normal attire and the JR on his forehead became visible again. With a quick _pop_, Koenma ascended back into Spirit World.

* * *

Kurama left Yusuke and Kuwabara to guard the body as he went home to gather a few things from his house. It was the weekend thankfully, so Kurama could stay for a few days at Genki's temple. They still had a few weeks of school left with graduation rapidly approaching. Summer was fast approaching as well with all of the exams and the tests that marked its beginning. He could guard Aiko with the group and study at the same time and graduate from high school. At least, he hoped he could.

Hiei raided Shizuru's freezer when she mentioned ice cream to get him out of her windowsill. While he ate, Yusuke and Kuwabara took turns in the shower and Kuwabara lent Yusuke some clothes while their school clothes were cleaned in the washer and drier downstairs.

Yusuke ate out of his bowl of ice cream, licking sprinkles off his spoon while the TV played. Since the couch was occupied by Aiko they sat in front of it, watching cartoons. "Well, I could get used to missions like this. Baby sitting doesn't sound so bad until the boredom hits you. You wanna wrestle?"

Kuwabara shook his head. "Nah, I'm pooped out man. Eat your ice cream before it melts. The portal will be here soon." The two lapsed back into silence until the show went to commercial. It was almost one in the morning and Kuwabara was getting sleepy again.

Yusuke picked at his ear with his pinky, cleaning his ear out in boredom. "Hey… we're going to Genki's temple, right?"

Kuwabara nodded. "Yeah, weren't you listening man?"

Yusuke grinned as a thought struck him. "And _who_ stays at her temple half the time? People that we just _love_ being around? She taught them, just like me?" He dropped hints as he watched Kuwabara's reaction.

Kuwabara thought about it before it clicked. "Oh, right! Chu and Rinku!"

"And Jin and Touya! Along with that Shishi guy and clown face."

"You mean the beautiful Suzuka and Shishiwakamaru?"

Yusuke waved his hand at Kuwabara. "Whatever. But hey, it's a house full of guys! This means we can wrestle, fight, play video games, and have extra help watching Bobby here." He lightly patted Aiko's hand that was hanging off the couch behind him.

Kuwabara's face instantly lit up. "And best of all, no school!"

Yusuke reclined even further, his mood escalating to an all-time high. "Hell yes! No school." He folded his hands behind his head. "You know, life is good."

Life is definately good.

Happy Halloween!! D

OK


	6. Knots

The next day found our favorite heroes trudging up the behemoth stairs to Genki's temple. Koenma made good on his promise for a portal to the temple, but Yusuke still hated the stairs. Carrying the unconscious girl on his back, he trudged upward beside Kuwabara who was carrying three duffel bags. "Are you sure Keiko's cool with lending these clothes for Aiko?"

Yusuke shrugged. "Didn't ask."

Kuwabara gave him an incredulous look. "What?!?"

Yusuke snickered. "Geez Kuwabara, and here I thought you'd have a sixth sense! I'm kidding stupid. The two are close to the same size. Bobby here can't go lying around in the nude with over six guys in the compound." They made it to the top step and Yusuke let out a breath, shifting the weight on his back. Aiko's head gently lolled to the side of his neck while her arms were limp over his shoulders. "You know, for such a small girl, she's heavy as crap." He shifted the weight that was Aiko's body as he walked across the compound.

Kuwabara shrugged. "Muscle is heavier then fat. Keiko was telling me how Aiko tried out for sports all the time, running cross country and stuff."

Yusuke snorted. "With the hell that's grandma's happy summer camp, she's going to need to know how to run. By the time Genki's even done, she might be a bloody ball of hurt. Or dead. Whichever comes first."

He walked across the compound to the front doors and slid open one door with his foot. Kuwabara walked in after him and slid it shut behind them. They made it down the hallway and into the common room where Yusuke carefully set Aiko down on cushions on the floor. She didn't so much as snore or roll over. Kuwabara put their stuff to the side and took his jacket off, laying it over Aiko's pajama clad body, courtesy of Shizuru.

Yusuke looked around the room with his hands behind his head, inhaling a deep breath. "Hey GRANDMA!!" His yell echoed through out the compound and for a moment all was quiet. The opposite door slammed open and Genki walked through, her dull pink hair left in waves behind her back. The vein that visibly throbbed in her temple was proof enough she was more than annoyed. Yusuke grinned cockily, pointing a finger at her. "Nice entrance hag. Say, I need a favor."

Genki smacked his finger out of her face, brushing roughly past him. "Ask someone who cares, I'm done babysitting."

Yusuke rolled his eyes behind her back. "I saw that." Genki stopped and looked over her shoulder at him, eyes narrowed. "So, what, you got yourself in trouble and need me to bail you out again? I don't pay bail for petty street crimes kid."

Yusuke let out a frustrated sound. "Oh come off it grandma, that wasn't even my fault! And besides, I paid you back for that!"

Kuwabara gave him a confused look. "You got arrested Urameshi?"

Yusuke waved him off. "Some sap said I stole his bike when I _didn't_, now can we get back to the main point?! Look grandma, I need your help! I need you to train someone for me. Just the basics at least."

Genki looked at him for a moment then shook her head. "Sorry kid, I'm retired." She moved outside and shut the rice paper door behind her.

Yusuke pulled at his hair. "_Now_ what?! I can't babysit her all day, I've got school! Keiko said she'd dump me if I didn't graduate with her in two months!" Kuwabara scratched the back of his head and looked at Aiko's sleeping body then back at Yusuke.

"Well, we just speed up the process. The necklace does that funny body changing thing, right? Using the demonic energy you and Kurama gave? Well, why don't you fast forward the change and give her a boost?"

Yusuke blinked at Kuwabara a few times before grinning. "You're a genius! Wait right here, I'll go see if I can find the guys. Last I knew they were hanging out around here as body guards. More demon energy the better, right?" Yusuke rushed outside, nearly tearing the rice paper door down in his haste. Kuwabara scratched the back of his head and looked down at Aiko again. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut…

* * *

Yusuke ran outside and into the large expansive back yard, stretching out his senses. Where were those demon friends of his? As he waited a shadow flitted across the ground next to his left. He quickly jumped to the right as a blur of white and red shot down from the sky and punched the ground he had been standing in. The turbulent whirlwind that started chased after Yusuke. Yusuke charged energy into his fist and wound his arm back before punching the small twister, making the air around him shift and go wild for a moment.

The air pressure suddenly dropped and he was tackled by the red and white blur again, effectively pinned to the ground. The red and white blur was actually Jin, the one horned shinobi from demon world. The wind master sat on Yusuke's chest, grinning madly with pointed teeth down at him. "Well fancy mess you got yourself in there Urameshi, you didn't even duck or move or anything you just punched and woo-ee you dispelled that small twister! But don't forget the nex' time you do that I'll be comin' at'cha full force, understand me?" The quick and Irish accented speech could only belong to one person; Jin, the Wind Master.

Yusuke looked up at the red headed man and the ivory horn that stuck out of the mop of red hair on his head. "Jin! Man I don't know half of what you just said, but I'll try to remember it. Now get off me before I kick your ass across the yard. Where's everyone else?" Jin moved upward with a flick of his hand, sitting cross legged in the air.

"They're up on the roof top watching us. See up thar'?" Jin pointed a clawed finger upward to show the group of people on top of Genki's sloped roof. There sat Rinku, Chu, Shishiwakamaru, Touya, and Suzuka all on the roof, watching with amusement as they sat on the hot tiles. "Well go say hello Urameshi!" Jin clapped Yusuke on the back before floating up a little bit more. The others easily slid off of the roof, landing on the grass and walking towards Yusuke. He grinned easily, walking forward to meet his fellow fighters.

"Hey guys. Listen, I don't have much time for chit chat. I've got a mission that's resting inside the house that sort of needs your help." Their friendly grins were replaced with frowns or curiosity as they gathered around Yusuke. He held up a hand before they could ask questions. Any other time he would love to chat with his friends or even spar, but his one track mind was focused for the moment, and it wasn't about to derail itself. "Who here knows what the Orb of Changes is?"

They glanced at each other then back at Yusuke. Touya, the ice master, was the first to speak. "It's one of many legends in the Demon World, but it's heavily guarded in Koenma's vaults. The wearer will turn into an extraordinary demon, if they live through the transformation. It's fatal for humans, however." Touya's gaze became calculating. "Yusuke… Why are you asking this question?"

Yusuke rubbed the back of his neck. "Well… It sort of got stolen." Suzuka shot him a sharp look, pushing forward from the back of the group to grab Yusuke's shirt front. He hoisted him up a foot in the air at least, his blue eyes narrowed.

"You can't be serious! Do you have _any_ idea how powerful that gemstone is? Where is it Yusuke, and you _better_ say it's not lost." Chu easily detached Suzuka from Yusuke, Chu's tanned hand letting go of Suzuka's pale wrist.

"Now that's no way to go talking to the little blighter now is it Suzy?" Jin snorted but Suzuka frowned even more at Chu. "Now then lad, what's this here fuss about anyhow?"

Yusuke smiled easily. "Well, we found the orb, and its safe inside, actually. Fought some nasty stuff to get it back, but it wasn't that hard." Suzuka and Touya visibly relaxed. False alarm after all… "There's just one catch… It attached to someone."

The group went silent as they looked at Yusuke. Rinku stepped forward, letting the yo-yos zip back and forth through the air as he bobbed them up and down. He was still short and child like, but was also still just as dangerous as he had been in the dark tournament. "Yusuke, if you dare say it's attached to a low class demon and you can't kill it by yourself, I might have to hurt you."

Yusuke shook his head at Rinku and sat down on the grass. The rest of the group sat down as well, leaning forward a little to listen. "No, it got attached to my classmate, and _she_ would slap the hell out of you if you called her a monster to her face. At least I'm pretty sure she would, women have a tendency to be vindictive little—" He cut himself off when he saw the knowing looks on the men's faces.

"Right. I assume you know how this thing works right? Well, Bobby's inside doing her little hibernation gig for phase two, and we can't wait the weeks or months for her to sleep through it. So, I was wondering if you guys would zap some of that good ol' demon energy. You know, just to jump start her body so she gets the energy needed to grow faster. Sound good? Great! Let's go inside—" Yusuke started to march back inside when Touya caught his shoulder. Forcibly Yusuke sat back down to see the disapproving looks of his friends. "What? It's a great idea! I have to graduate in two months and finals are next week! Keiko's going to kill me if I fail! She's worse then Koenma!"

Touya shook his head. "A moment Yusuke, you seem to be missing the point. Whose energy did you give when she first put it on?"

"Hiei wouldn't help, so it was me and Kurama that did it. Why?"

Touya shook his head. "Just asking. All of us can't put our energy into this 'Bobby' person. It has to be you or Kurama, because the necklace is used to that energy. Let's go inside and I'll show you what I mean."

* * *

Kuwabara was bored. Aiko had rolled over in her sleep and was face down in the cushions around the table. Kuwabara picked her up and propped her up against the wall. "You know those cushions aren't sanitary. Who knows who sat on those, like Urameshi and his smelly feet. Face down in a chair cushion?" He shuddered once, riffling through the bags until he found what he wanted. "Keiko said these head things would come in handy." Kuwabara found a plain white head band and slid it over Aiko's head, forcing the bobbed bangs against her forehead so her face was free of hair. She looked peaceful in her sleep and Kuwabara looked at the necklace that was glowing under her shirt.

It was eerie, actually, like she was about to open her eyes and be possessed.

The door slid open and Kuwabara stood, picking Aiko up as he went and holding her bridal style. Yusuke lifted a brow but didn't say anything as he strode over, ripping the first two buttons of the pajama shirt off to get to the necklace. "Hey Urameshi, that's my sister's! Do you _want_ her to kill me?!"

"Shut up stupid and let me work. Set her down on the table, Touya wanted a look." Kuwabara shot Yusuke a shocked look then glared at Touya.

"Pervert!!"

Yusuke hit Kuwabara on the back of the head. "Not like _that_ stupid! The necklace! Duh." He snatched Aiko's limp body and almost dropped her as he shuffled her legs to lay her on the table. Rinku put a cushion under her head as he sat on the table near her head, lifting her collar up.

"Hey, it's glowing red! What does that mean?"

Yusuke shrugged. "Hell if I know. Pacifier breath said it was 'bestowing powers' on her or something. So now she's hibernating and I want her awake so she can start grandma's evil boot camp."

Touya popped the next button and folded the collar backwards so they could all see the gem. It was barely glowing now against her pale collar bone. Rinku leaned forward to touch it. His fingers barely skimmed the surface before it let out a crackle of energy to burn his fingers. "Ouch! It has its own barrier?!" Rinku put the burnt finger in his mouth, sulkily looking at the necklace. Aiko shifted in her sleep and the necklace stopped glowing completely. Yusuke leaned over her body to get a better look at the gem. The necklace shook for a moment before it suddenly phased through her skin and sunk completely into her body. Kuwabara put his hands to his head; he should have kept his mouth shut earlier!

"What're we going to do?! Koenma's going to kill us!" Kuwabara made a panicked sound as he grabbed Yusuke. "Why'd you have to go and tempt fate Urameshi?! I knew you getting an 'A' on a test was too good to be true! You've cursed us all!" Yusuke shoved his friend off him, flipping him off.

Touya shook his head lightly. "Calm yourself Kuwabara. The necklace knows we're here. It probably phased through to finish faster. So many demon auras around it's new host doesn't bode well, in most circumstances." Touya stood, brushing himself off. "Where is Kurama?"

Yusuke shrugged. "He's on his way. He told his mom he was leaving early for college and is packing his stuff to ship to his new dorm. He packed his bag to come here last night. This _mission_ is going to be full time. Kuwabara and I have to go back to school tomorrow, so you guys will need to watch her with Red." He pointed a finger at the sleeping Aiko on the table. "And convince grandma to train her while you're at it! She's being more of a hag than usual at the moment."

Chu leaned forward and popped a button off of one of the cushions. Flipping it like a quarter, he leaned forward and placed it on the tip of Aiko's nose, making it balance. Touya sweat dropped at his antics and shook his head. His friends were very strange. "We'll train the Sheila if Master Genki doesn't want to."

Rinku gave Chu a disbelieving look. "You'd go easy. Genki knows how to train with out holding back on a person so they live to their fullest potential. Besides, you'd probably stare at her if she wore shorts to training!"

Chu nodded his head. "A might true that is, who wouldn't like to look at a sheila's legs? But the Master Genki has no experience wielding demon energy herself. If I'm not mistaken, that's what this little Sheila will be. Say, what's this sheila's name?" He picked up some of Aiko's hair and ran his fingers through it as she slept, tying knots and braids here and there. The button still balanced on her nose as she slept on, unaware to the world around her.

"Her name is Aiko Wakahisa. I call her Bobby because of her chopped off hair." Yusuke leaned his head against the table, feeling the lack of sleep catching up to him.

Chu shrugged and continued tying knots in her hair. Soon Rinku had joined in with him, randomly poking her face to see if she would twitch. She twitched a little but mostly slept on.

Yusuke sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, we might as well settle in on waiting for Kurama to show up. Hell I wish it was the weekend."

Shishiwakamaru and Suzuka watched with bemusement as the two team mates knotted Aiko's hair while she was asleep on the table. The silence dragged on silently as the others watched Chu and Rinku's mischief. Suzuka was the first to speak on the matter they all were thinking about. "The moment she wakes up and finds those knots in her hair, I'll tell her it was you two who did it; and then you'll know the wrath of ruining perfectly good hair. Why she would keep it so tackily short I don't know, but it's well cut none the less." And of course, the _beautiful_ Suzuka knew all about these things. You had to when you were a master of disguise and faces.

Yusuke leaned back in the cushion he sat on and watched as Chu and Rinku defended the short hair while Shishiwakamaru and Suzuka attacked it. They began listing the pros and cons of having short hair, it well it would or wouldn't work in battle, and the every day use of it. Yusuke didn't care but he listened all the same. After all, he had nothing better to do.

Kuwabara looked at the sleeping girl on Genki's low table. "You are _so_ lucky you're asleep."


End file.
